Like We Used To
by nickandmiley3
Summary: Miley couldn't be happier to have nick home safely, after ten frightening months of him being in Iraq. But is the person that returns the same nick miley once fell in love with?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**A/N Hello lovely people. So this is my first story ever! I have no idea where to begin, or what I'm going to do. But I got this idea, and I love niley with everything in me. So why not give it a shot? Bear with me, I have no idea how to start a story.**

It was a Wednesday, but it wasn't just any Wednesday. Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for this day to happen? Ten months. Ten scary months. It all started a little over a year ago, the day my boyfriend of over a year broke the news to me. He would be going to Iraq. I screamed, cried, yelled but nothing helped. He was going, leaving me here. And who was I to stop him?

_ The day of saying goodbye came around, and it was harder than I ever could have imagined. We were at the airport, staring into each other's eyes, realizing this was it. He was leaving._

_"Are you coming back?" I asked him hesitantly, looking down.  
_

_"Baby, look at me." He lifted my chin so I was staring into his eyes again. "I will come back. Just wait for me. Promise me you'll wait for me."_

_I smiled. Yeah right, like I was going to replace him. "I'll always wait for you." He leaned in and kissed me gently.  
_

_Those were the last words we spoke to each other before he got on the plane, the plane that would take him away for me. For now. I watched him walk away, tears streaming down my face. He turned around and smiled at me. "I love you, Miley." he yelled. Before I could even answer his back was facing me again. He was really leaving. _

_"I love you too." I whispered. _

_I felt two arms surrounding me, pulling me into a hug. I looked up to see Joe staring down at me._

_"He will be fine, Miles. He'll be back before you know it."_

_I didn't say anything, instead I just cried. _

And here I was. Waiting at LAX airpoirt. After ten months, millions of tears and a quick phone call from Iraq every now and then. I was finally going to be able to feel his arms around me again. To feel his lips on mine. I straightened out my white vneck before looking at the door he was supposed to be coming through any minute. Technically it was nick's vneck, but I pretty much wore his clothes every single day during the months he was gone. They didn't even smell like him anymore. But that didn't matter anymore, because in a couple of minutes I would be able to hold him again. I wouldn't need his shirts to smell his scent.

My daydream about nick's scent was interrupted by Denise, pulling my arm roughly. "Miley, look!"

I looked up to see a curly haired boy storming through the door. Before I could even take all of this amazing information in, I was scooped up in the air, feeling kisses being planted all over my face.

I giggled before really taking the time to look at him. He was standing so close to me, I could see every tiny detail about his face. I lifted up my hand to touch his freckles, then I moved my hand up and dug my hands into his hair. You have no idea how much I missed those curls.

He smiled and put his hands on my waist. "You waited." was all he said before I closed the small gap between us. I felt him smiling into our kiss.

We stood there kissing for a few minutes until I heard Paul's voice.

"We know you guys missed each other, but we should really be heading home. We already got your luggage." He said while smiling at us.

Nick let go of me and walked over to his parents and brothers. After he hugged all of them he walked back over to me, intertwining our hands while walking out of the airport.

We had so much to talk about, but I didn't care at the moment. I just wanted to walk next to him while holding his hand. Nothing mattered at the moment.

He was home. He was safe. He was mine.

**AH I finally put up the first chapter, and I'm really insecure about this. It's really short, I want to make the chapters a lot longer in the future.  
****Ok so another short summary of the story, I hope you will like/understand it. So nick joined the army and was sent off to Iraq, but some things changed. You will find out laterrrrr hehe! **


	2. Chapter 2

It's been two days since I've last seen him. I haven't even really talked to him after we got home from LAX after picking him up. I'm trying to act like it doesn't matter, but it does.

I understand his family wants to spend some quality time with him, but doesn't being his girlfriend give me some rights as well?

We texted back and forth at night, but that's not enough for me at the moment. I just want to feel his arms around me. I will never get enough of those arms.

The weekend just started so he can't tell me that "I should focus on school at the moment", instead of him. It's my last year of high school, and I really need to graduate so Nick and I can get out of here. We've spent so many nights fantasizing about our future, how one day we would visit Paris. I know I'm only 17, and he's only 19, but I'm not letting this boy go anytime soon.

It was a really beautiful Saturday morning, so I decided to get out off bed and actually do something instead of mope around about my boyfriend who was apparently too lazy to even give me a call. After taking a long shower I put on a dark jeans with a white vneck on top. One of nick's vnecks to be exact.

When I walked to my mirror to apply some make up, my phone started ringing. Nick's name flashed on the screen. Finally.

"Hi" I answered nonchalantly. Kind of immature, I know.

"Mi, I need to see you." He said with a hint of impantience in his voice. How could I possibly resist him?

"I'll be there in 10 minutes." I gave in too quickly, but I didn't care. I really wanted to see him.

"Is it ok if we meet at your place? My parents keep asking me questions about, you know." He sighed.

"Iraq?"

It was quiet for a while before he finally answered. "Yeah, Iraq."

"You can talk about it you know? You haven't said a word about it since you're back."

"I don't feel like talking about it right now. I feel like seeing you. I really need you, Mi."

Exactly ten minutes after we hung up the doorbell rang. I sprinted down the stairs, almost tripping over my own feet. When I opened the door my smile disappeared almost instantly.

In front of me was not my boyfriend, not the boyfriend that left 10 months ago at least. His face was pale, his curls were hanging like he had gone through it with his hands for at least a hundred times, he looked exhausted. And there was something about his beautiful brown eyes. They used to sparkle and make me feel like I was loved. Now they just seemed dull and sad.

Now I got to think about it, I hadn't noticed all of these at the airport. I was too overwhelmed by the fact that he was back.

In all my staring I didn't even notice I backed away a little bit. Almost as if I was scared of the guy in front of me. But that was crazy, I couldn't be scared. Not of nick. Right?

He finally opened his mouth to break this incredibly awkward silence. "You look beautiful."

I ignored his comment, I was too worried right now. "Nick, are you okay?" I asked hesitantly, still taking in his unusual appearance.

He stepped inside, closer to me. I opened my arms automatically, and he immediately responded, hugging me tightly. I rested my head on his shoulder while holding him even closer to me. My fright from just a minute ago vanished, like it had never even been there in the first place. But I couldn't stop that tiny voice in the back of my head from telling me something wasn't right.

After we let go, I took his hand and lead him into the kitchen.

We sat down at the kitchen island. Both on different sides, facing each other. But even though I was right in front of him, he didn't look at me. I stared at him intently. What was going through his mind? Should I ask him about it, or will that just upset him more? No I should definitely ask him about it, just look at him.

I walked over to him, putting my arms around him from behind, resting my head on his back.

"Will you tell me what's going on? I'm worried about you, Nick." I asked as sweet as possible.

"Just thinking about stuff. It's weird to be back here after all those months."

"You look tired, maybe we should just go upstairs and get some sleep. Does that sound okay?"

He turned around in his seat, facing me. A small smile appeared on his face. It was small, but it was something. "I'd like that. I missed holding you." he whispered in my ear.

Maybe he just needed some time to get used to being back home. My happy, yet shy Nick would come back. He just had to.

**I apologize for any mistakes, I just wanted to upload it! I hope you guys like this and maybe even review? :) THANK YOU TO THE 3 COOL PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED ON MY FIRST EVER CHAPTER. I love you guys already. I know this isn't really good, but I still need to kind of get into the story. I promise it will be dramatic and GOOD! Please stick with me! It's still a bit short, but I promise the next chapter will be longer! x**


	3. Chapter 3

We've been laying here for over an hour, I'm curled up in his arms and to be honest, I haven't been this comfortable in ten months.

His arms are around my body while he's in a deep slumber. I'm watching his chest rise and fall, admiring the boy I love. I touch his nose with my own and start giggling when his nose crinkles up because of my touch. That seemed to have awoken him, because his eyes are slowly opening.

"Hi." He whispers, kissing the tip of my nose.

"Hey, you." I could die of happiness right in this moment, all because of that simple gesture. This was the sweet Nick I know. The one who would surprise me with little gifts when I was feeling down. Who would feel embarrassed when we kissed in front of our families, but who would always proudly present me as his girlfriend to everyone he met. The only one who was allowed to call me baby. The one who would write me sweet songs and play them for me on his guitar after we had a fight. The one who texted me that he missed me when we'd seen each other a few hours before. The one who once left a note in my locker saying '_I think you're really pretty_' two years ago, the day we started dating.

I sighed happily, kissing his soft lips. He still looked exhausted, but his eyes were back to normal. The sad expression was replaced by a loving one. And do you want to know what the best thing of all of this is? The loving expression was for me.

Nick suddenly broke our comfortable silence. "I'm sorry."

I scooped even closer to him, if that was possible. He responded by holding me even tighter. "For what?"

"For being distant the last couple of days. It was just a lot to take in all at once. Being reunited with my family, friends. And you." After saying _you_ he placed a small kiss on my forehead.

"Don't be sorry. We all love you, and want to know what's going through your mind."

"But that's the thing, you don't understand." He whispered. I loved the fact that he was whispering, it felt really intimate. Like every word he said was only meant to be heard by me.

"But I _want_ to understand."

"Yeah well, you just don't. Can we please stop talking about it now? I don't want to argue with you." He answered with a sigh.

It still didn't feel right, but I decided to drop the subject. For now. Everything just seemed to be going back to normal. I really didn't want to mess that up now, he finally seemed to be loosening up a bit. And so I smiled and kissed him. But not like the small pecks we've been stealing since he's back. A real kiss. It didn't take him long to react, and before I even knew it we were involved in a serious make out session.

I was sitting on top of him, straddling him. His hands were on my thighs and his eyes bore through my own. I bent over so I was close to his ear before I whispered "I missed your kisses."

He smiled and kissed me hungrily. "I missed _you_."

Before I could even answer, his lips were back on mine. I deepened the kiss and his hands started to play with the hem of my (his) vneck. I pulled away from our kiss to quickly pull my shirt of, throwing it somewhere into my room. I couldn't care less about that right now, I just knew it needed to be off.

He stared at me for a while, but this time he wasn't staring into my eyes. Typical boy. But who could blame him? I was wearing my black, lacy bra. Not that we haven't gotten to this stage before, but the fact that he hadn't seen me like this in months made both of our hearts beat faster.

He started kissing me again, parting my lips with his tongue. His hands explored my body, and it felt as if it was the first time we were this intimate. His hands started travelling up, getting awfully close to the clasp of my bra. Now that's something we haven't done before. The second he started fiddling with it, my phone started ringing. Are you kidding me?

He looked at me pleadingly, asking me with his eyes not to answer it. I sighed. What if it was important?

I got up from him and from the bed, still just wearing my bra. I felt his eyes on me as I walked over to my night stand. I didn't bother to look at the called ID, instead I just picked up.

"Hello?" I answered a bit annoyed.

"Hey Miles. What have you been up to? I thought that maybe you uh- you felt like hanging out?"

"Oh hey, Liam." I unconsciously walked to my bathroom, proceeding my conversation with Liam and leaving Nick sitting on my bed. Was he asking me out on a date? That couldn't be the case. He knew I had a boyfriend, and I'm pretty sure I told him he would be coming back.

Liam was new at my school, so Nick didn't know him. I hadn't told Nick about him either. Just because it hadn't crossed my mind yet. Liam and I became pretty good friends in the months Nick was gone. I could always talk to him about stuff. The stuff was usually Nick. So his 'invitation' kind of caught me off guard. I didn't like him like that, and I thought he thought of me as just a friend either. We'd never really hung out outside of school hours.

"Uhm well, I would love to. But Nick is back, remember? I'm hanging out with him right now. So maybe another time?" That was a good answer right? I didn't reject him, I just told him the truth. A truth he should have been expecting.

"Oh yeah right. He's back. I forgot." The way he said it made me pretty uncomfortable. It sounded harsh, a side of him I hadn't seen yet.

"Yeah so, I'll see you at school on Monday ok?" I asked hesitantly. I just wanted to end this conversation and go back to Nick. Shit, Nick. He was probably wondering what was going on, and why I couldn't talk to Liam while being in the same room as him. He'll probably understand, he was never the jealous type. I never gave him a reason to be jealous.

"Sure, see you then Miles." His voice didn't sound that harsh anymore, but it was still there.

"Bye, Liam." I hung up the phone and walked back into my room, expecting Nick to still be sitting on my bed. But he wasn't.

Just when I was about to step further into my room, someone grabbed my wrist tightly and turned me around. I stopped breathing for a second when I looked up.

**Cliffhanger muhaha, kind of. I'm on a roll with this story, I love writing it. I already started the next chapter! So I think I will update soon!  
How do you guys like it so far? thanks for the reviews on the last one, they make me smile! So, please leave a review? And who do you think is the person miley is shocked about?**

**x**


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